Do you put barriers in the way of your customers that prevent them from giving you their money?

My wife and I recently dropped by our local Blockbuster video to rent a movie. There was a special on previously viewed movies that offered 4 movies for $20.00 vs. $6.99 each. They had a large selection and we noticed there were a number of movies that either we hadn’t seen or thought they would be good to add to our home library — so we decided to purchase some.

A friend shared the following email that she sent to the individual responsible for Customer Service at Danier Leather in Toronto.

I am taking a few moments to email you about the poor customer service I received today at approximately 12.30 pm in your Eaton Centre store.

Several times a year I get a CD from a well-known PR consultant. She is a very aggressive and consistent promoter of her business. She has done a good job making herself well-known in her niche.

But, when I listen to her CD I often resist her message. Not because of its quality. She has a lot of good ideas and advice. What drives me away is the amount of time it takes to introduce her on each CD program.

This is about understanding why customer focus is strategically important, what it means to be truly customer-focused and how to create or improve customer focus in your organization. This article presents a simple business case for the strategic importance of  creating greater customer focus.  Many excerpts are taken from the book, That’s Customer Focus! We hope you find in interesting and helpful.

Most of you will probably recognize this soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet

I was recently reading an annual report for a successful company, and, as always, I looked at the words used about customers.  Some reports are only about a company’s internal products, services, and processes.  They may even include awards the company has won in the past year, in addition to all the necessary financial information.

A Customer Focus

In a recent article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Joe Guy Collier writes about the changes that AFC Enterprises new CEO, Cheryl Bachelder is making to Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen. Bachelder said “We would like for our service, our guest experience to be as sharp as our food.”

This kind of forward thinking is exactly what we all need to focus on in these tough economic times. Instead of letting the economic downturn get her down she said “We’ve had to be more focused, but I actually think that’s been a blessing. We’re going to get the fundamentals of our business moving the right way.”

Every month we scan as much of the Customer Focus, Service Excellence and Customer Experience Research as we can to make sure we have our fingers on the pulse of what customers and business leaders are saying and thinking. Here is a short summary of what current research is revealing. It’s not listed in any order as it is all important!

• 80% of companies believe they deliver a superior Customer Experience; however, only 8% of their customers agree.

It’s time to set the record straight. Customer Focus Training is NOT an Expense. It is a strategic investment and here’s the proof.

Three Florida legislators have proposed a bill that would require restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus. While I know there are heated arguments on both sides of this issue, I like the idea.

Has this ever happened to you? You’re in a hurry. You want to complete your business and the person serving you is preoccupied with something other than serving you. Then when you are served, you might get an insincere apology for the delay followed by the completion of your transaction. If asked to describe this experience you would likely respond “That’s typical” or “It’s nothing more and probably a little less than I expected.”